50th Reunion Picture Published

The latest issue (July 28, 2011) of the Pioneer-Republican has the group picture taken outside before the 50th Reunion at the Ox Yoke Inn.  Thank you Mary D. for arranging this and thank you Dianne Kinzenbaw for taking this great picture!
You can see a larger version of the picture by clicking on it and then clicking on the picture again.

Reunion Trivia Quiz

For the reunion program, Evan created a trivia quiz. The questions are shown  in the picture to the left.  Many of the answers came during the program.  For those that did not or those you missed hearing, you can see the trivia quiz with the answers here.

Reunion Cake - July 2, 2011

Thank you to Carol Ann for making an outstanding reunion cake!  As a cake fanatic - my wife accuses me of marrying her only because of the wedding cake; which is not true, it was the wedding cake frosting - I can testify that both the cake and frosting were great.  Just looking at the picture makes me hungry for it again (I don't think any of it remained)!

Reunion Program - July 2, 2011

Thanks to Mary D. and to Evan, our Master of Ceremonies, our dinner was followed by reminisces and memories from several of our classmates.  Evan provided a humorous overview and a special trivia quiz.



Gary Cooney reminded us of the sports accomplishments of the Class of 1961.  Among these were being co-winners of the football conference, Gary winning the State 50 yard dash, and Jim Freeze placing in the shot put at State.

Claudia had prepared memorials for the classmates who have passed away and shared them with us.

Lenny provided a salute to our classmates who have served in the military.  There have been ten who served in the different services.





Sheryl and Rich lead us in singing the Iowa Valley/Marengo Fight Song and then our class song - with updated lyrics!  My apologies to both of them; I was busy singing along and missed getting a picture of them.  Did anyone get a picture we can use here?

Thank you to everyone for a great evening!  It was a great program and a great reunion!

Thank You for the Tours

Thank you to Mary D. for making arrangements and thank you to all the tour guides at our four Marengo stops!

The tours were the Marengo Memorial Hospital, the Marengo Public Library,  the Iowa Valley High School, and the Pioneer Heritage Museum and Resource Library which are part of the Iowa County Historical Society.  All of these have changed greatly, or even been created, since we graduated.  

 If you did not get a chance to see them, be sure to check them out next time you are in Marengo!

Tours - Saturday, July 2, 2011

You should all have received the list of tours from Mary D.  Just in case, it is posted below.  Hope to see you there and tonight!

TOURS     SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2011

11:00 A.M.:  MARENGO MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

  Renovated in 2004-05, the hospital is a 25 bed critical access hospital. Among other services, they offer in-patient services, ambulance, dialysis, ER, imaging, lab, respiratory therapy, cardiac rehab and clinics.  They have a gift bag for anyone taking the tour.

11:30 A.M.:  MARENGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

  The Marengo Public Library is one of the libraries that was established with the help of Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900's.  In 1903, an item in the Marengo Republican newspaper noted, "Marengo is the smallest town in the country to receive an offer of $10,000 for a library from Andrew Carnegie."  In May of 2007, after seven years of planning, fundraising, and building, a beautiful addition and renovation of the original building was completed.  The cost of the building was just over $2.1 million.  The new building contains a community meeting room, state-of-the-art computer room, a children's programming room, an elevator for accessibility, and much needed additional space for patrons and staff.

NOON:  IOWA VALLEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
  Since our graduation in 1961, the school has added on classrooms, gymnasium and weight rooms to the west.  The old auditorium/gym was recently updated to include painting, restoration and new seating.

1:00 P.M.:  IOWA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY/PIONEER HERITAGE MUSEUM

675 E. South St.  No fee/donations gladly accepted.

  The ICHS maintains and operates the Pioneer Heritage Museum and Resource Library located in Marengo, IA. This half-block site includes an 1856 log cabin, 1861 log house, 1890’s rural farmhouse, the relocated Chicago Rock Island RR depot from Victor, and a 1930’s gas station from Hartwick, IA. The filling station display includes an antique race car and 1938 fire truck. The various structures house exhibits of farm machinery as well as household and country store items, clothing and military history. The museum's collection of uniforms and military gear span from the Spanish American War through the Civil War, World War I, World War II (includes both men's and women's uniforms), Vietnam and Desert Storm.

In addition to the museum grounds the ICHS also maintains the Gritter Creek Country School located west of North English 3 miles off the main Millersburg North English road. We also have original furnishing from the Gritter School. This is the only remaining brick one-room school building in Iowa County and is open to the public at all times.  Resource Library is available and they are capable of helping people do research on families, communities, churches, schools, businesses, etc.

I sincerely hope many of you will consider going on one or all of these tours. The last one, the historical building, you can spend ½ - 2 hrs. as you wish.  Personnel at each of these destinations have graciously arranged their schedules to accommodate our visit and each of them are eager to show off their buildings.  If you haven’t been back to Marengo for a while, you will be amazed at what you see at these places.

1^st Tour, let’s meet at the hospital parking lot – just east of the front door or meet at any of the other sites @ the time noted if you only wish to take certain tours.

Great Times at Phat Daddys!

There was a good turnout from the Class of 1961, and some from other classes, for our get-together at Fat Daddys.  Hope to see you at the tours today and the reunion tonight for more!